With every upgrade, Ethereum, the world’s largest programmable blockchain, continues to become more sustainable, more secure, and more scalable.
In late 2022, The Merge made technological history by reducing Ethereum’s worldwide electricity consumption to a mere 0.2%. In early 2023, the Shanghai-Capella upgrade reduced the barrier to entry for stakers, making Ethereum more accessible and decentralized. And now, less than a year later, the Dencun Upgrade is scheduled for release on March 13th, 2024 and set to lower L2 gas fees, bringing cost savings to the entire ecosystem.
Commemorate this achievement with Consensys by claiming the Ethereum, Evolved: Dencun NFT collection, including a special edition for specific NFT holders. Learn how to claim your own Dencun NFT on March 13th below.
What is the Ethereum Dencun upgrade?
The Dencun Upgrade, also known as proto-danksharding, is a milestone on the Ethereum roadmap that includes nine Ethereum Improvement Plans (EIPs) that will collectively improve the network’s scalability and significantly reduce gas costs for L2 users and developers. This will unlock increased adoption and new use cases.
For a deeper dive into what proto-danksharding means for the web3 ecosystem, visit our Ethereum, Evolved: Dencun hub where we’ve prepared a nine-part video series featuring EIP-4844 authors Dankrad Feist, Diederik Loerakker, Ansgar Dietrichs, and other subject matter experts who’ve made the upgrade possible.
A third Consensys NFT for Ethereum, Evolved collectors
Since The Merge, Consensys has invited people to celebrate Ethereum’s progress by launching an NFT (non-fungible token) collection to go with each upgrade, titled Ethereum, Evolved, as well as educational materials that provide more context about the impact these upgrades have on the greater ecosystem and future of Ethereum.
The past two collections consisted of two NFTs editions. The first was an Open edition NFT that anyone with a web3 wallet could mint for free. The second, officially referred to as the Contributor edition, was airdropped only to the Ethereum Core Developers, researchers, and client teams as a token of gratitude for their work towards the upgrade.
In addition to the Open and Contributor editions, a new Community edition will be added to the collection and available to claim on the Linea network for those who’ve held at least one NFT from any of the existing collections: The Merge: Regenesis, Ethereum, Evolved: Shanghai or Linea Voyage since February 26, 2024.
All three editions are deployed via Phosphor, a new NFT toolkit by Consensys that includes a no-code Creator studio and a robust set of APIs for developers that’s powered all previous collections.
The making of the Dencun NFT art
In the spirit of building together, Consensys collaborates with a different artist for each Ethereum, Evolved NFT. For this collection, we partnered with Stefan Große Halbuer, also known as Plastic Pen.
Stefan is a digital artist from Münster, Germany and his art is known for its detailed storytelling through intricately detailed illustrations. He’s been an active member of the web3 NFT art scene since 2020. Some of his best known projects are Curious Cabins" & "Cycle of the Shroom.
The artwork that Stefan has created for the Ethereum, Evolved: Dencun NFT builds upon the unique visualization of the Ethereum ecosystem, where elements of nature and blockchain technology come together to depict epic, futuristic landscapes. For this artwork, Stefan meticulously animated blobs that represent the scalability the Dencun upgrade brings to Ethereum L2s.
We invite all web3 enthusiasts to celebrate the Dencun upgrade by claiming the next Ethereum, Evolved NFT.
How to claim the Ethereum, Evolved: Dencun NFT on March 13th
On March 13, 2024, the day of the upgrade, links to claim the Open edition on Ethereum and the Community edition on Linea will be published on the Dencun hub. The claim window for the Open edition will remain open for 72 hours and 7 days for the Community edition. Sign up for NFT drop notification emails here.
The Open edition will be available to all and the Community edition will only be available to collectors who hold at least one NFT from any previous collection by February 26th, 2024 at 9am ET(block numbers on Ethereum: 19312195 and Linea: 2524520). Details for each edition are outlined below:
Open Edition
You will be able to mint as many open edition NFTs on Ethereum as you wish for free (excluding gas fees). To mint the Open edition, you must have a web3 wallet that is funded with ETH to cover the gas fees. Here are instructions on how to fund your wallet.
Community Edition
With the inclusion of proto-danksharding, reduced L2 transaction fees for users have allowed us to host the newest Community edition NFT on Linea, a network bootstrapped by Consensys.
You will be eligible to mint the Community edition on Linea for free if you were holding at least one NFT from any of the following collections on February 26, 2024:
The Merge: Regenesis
Ethereum, Evolved: Shanghai
Linea Voyage
To mint the Community edition, your wallet must be funded with ETH to cover the gas fees. Here are instructions on how to fund your wallet or bridge your funds.
The NFT claim window will open on the 13th of March 2024 once the upgrade is complete and will remain open for 72 hours for the Open Edition and 7 days for the Community edition.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here’s everything you need to know about the NFT drop:
Is this NFT free?
Yes, this NFT is free; anyone can mint as many as they want via individual transactions. The only cost incurred will be from paying gas fees for every mint. These gas fees can vary significantly based on activity on Ethereum mainnet and Linea mainnet.
How can I claim the NFT?
Connect your wallet
On the day of the upgrade, links to claim the NFTs will be posted on the Dencun hub, and this will lead you to the claim pages where you will be asked to connect your MetaMask wallet.
Don’t have a MetaMask wallet? You can easily download and install MetaMask and follow the instructions to get set up.
For the Open Edition on Ethereum: Buy Ethereum and add it to your wallet
In order to pay the gas fee to mint your NFT, you will need to have ETH in your MetaMask wallet. You can easily buy Ethereum directly from MetaMask by following these instructions.
For the Community Edition on Linea: Buy Linea ETH and add it to your wallet
If you are eligible to claim your Community Edition, in order to pay the gas fee to mint your NFT, you will need to have Linea ETH in your MetaMask wallet. You can easily buy Linea ETH directly from MetaMask by following these instructions.
How long do I have to claim the NFTs?
The NFT claim window will open on the 13th of March 2024 once the upgrade is complete and will remain open for 72 hours for the Open Edition and 7 days for the Community edition.
How can I transfer my ETH to Linea network so I can mint my community edition?
The act of transferring funds from one network to another is called bridging. To bridge your ETH funds to Linea with a MetaMask wallet, please utilize the bridge feature within MetaMask’s portfolio. Please also see our docs for more information.
Why can’t I claim a Contributor NFT edition?
As part of this celebration, Consensys will airdrop a Contributor edition to members of the CoreDevs as a small token of our appreciation for the years of decentralized coordination and effort making the upgrade a reality.
These limited edition NFTs were created specifically for this team and will include the team members’ names embedded in the metadata on some of the first blocks of the PoS Ethereum they helped create.
How many open edition NFTs can I claim?
You may claim as many open edition NFTs as you want while the claim window is open, but can only mint one NFT at a time.
How many community edition NFTs can I claim?
If you are eligible for the community edition, you may claim as many community edition NFTs as you want while the claim window is open, but can only mint one NFT at a time.
What is the utility of the NFT?
This collection is, first and foremost, a set of artistic works celebrating an important technological milestone that we believe will be looked back on as a watershed moment in web3’s evolution.
Having trouble claiming your NFT and can’t find the answer on this page? Please send a message in our #dencun-nft-chat channel on the Consensys Discord.